Saudi Arabia's First Female News Anchor Goes Live

Saudi TV/YouTube

23September2018

A happy Saudi National Day, indeed

Just days before Saudi National Day, the country marked yet another 2018 milestone for women: journalist Weam Al Dakheel made history as the first woman to become a lead news anchor. Debuting on national channel Saudia TV’s 9:30 PM nightly news just last Thursday, September 20, she went live alongside her co-anchor Omar Al Nashwan.

While women have presented on news channels in the past – the first-ever woman to present was Jumanah AlShami in 2016 – they have primarily covered subjects like women’s interest stories, cooking, and the weather. This was the first time the country has seen a woman hold a main news anchor seat and naturally, is being celebrated all over social media.

Despite this historic first, Al Dakheel isn’t an industry newcomer. She’s also worked at Al-Arab News Channel in Bahrain and CNBC Arabia in previous years, and also holds a journalism degree from the Lebanese American University.